St. Kilian 2021/2025 - 4 y.o. - Peated Ex Champagner Vin Clair Cask #6942

Volume: 0.5 litres | Alcohol content: 58.7% | Chill filtration: No | Colouring: No

Special Features:

The single malt was distilled on 1 July 2021 from Highland peat-smoked malt with a phenol content of 80 ppm. It then spent its entire four-year maturation in the 350-litre ex-Champagne vin clair cask 6942. On 18 November 2025, it was bottled at a cask strength of 58.7%, yielding 595 bottles of 0.5 litres each.

Vin clair is the young, still white wine used as the base for Champagne. Distilled twice in copper pot stills, the whisky combines white grapes, apricots, pears and yellow apples with sweet peat smoke, dry oak, spices and ash. It contains no added colouring and was not chill-filtered.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: White grapes, juicy apricots, pears and yellow apples open the nose. Sweet peat smoke, delicate oak, spices, nutmeg and subtle ash complement the fruit.
• Palate: On the palate, the dry fruit sweetness of grapes, apricots and pears sits alongside spices, oak and black pepper. Delicate peat smoke and subtle ash accompany these flavours.
• Finish: The finish is long, dry and full-bodied, combining a fruity aftertaste with a light smoky note.

Distillery/Bottler:

Andreas Thümmler and David F. Hynes began developing the plans for St. Kilian in 2012; Mario Rudolf joined them later. After four years of construction, the distillery’s own spirit first ran in Rüdenau in 2016 from two 6,000-litre copper pot stills made by Forsyths.

St. Kilian produced this whisky, which matured in cask 6942 before being bottled by the distillery as an official bottling. The whisky from the ex-Champagne vin clair cask is one of the distillery’s special releases. The contrast between the 80 ppm peat-smoked malt and the cask that previously held still Champagne base wine shapes the distinctive character of this release.

Facts: